TYNESIDE legend Alan Shearer is ready to turn his back on his beloved Newcastle United in disgust at the way owner Mike Ashley has failed to sell the club this summer.

LEFT IN LIMBO: Alan Shearer is frustrated over the failure of Mike Ashley to sell up

Shearer is furious that Ashley is holding out for £100million and has so far not managed to offload the Magpies despite interest from various consortia, all of whom have fallen short of the asking price. Shearer was expected to be named permanent boss at St James’ Park shortly after the club was relegated last season, but he continues to wait in the wings.

With the new Championship season set to start in a fortnight, Shearer’s close friend and former Newcastle team-mate Rob Lee said: “I speak to Alan every day and he’s frustrated to say the least. He’s coming to the end of his tether now. He’s waited for ages and been told that things were due to happen, but nothing has and he’s very frustrated.

“He organised all the pre-season games at the end of last season but he also had targets in mind that he wanted to bring in to the club. Now it looks like he will miss out on them.

“I’m amazed he hasn’t already told Newcastle that he doesn’t want the job any more, but there will come a point where he says, ‘You’re too late’.

“He still wants the job desperately but you can’t expect someone like that to wait forever. He’s not daft and they’ve had ample time to sort something out.

“Only half the stadium has been sold as season tickets and for a club the size of Newcastle that is bad. They’re in danger of being in the same situation as Leeds, who are stuck in League One and can’t get out.

“It could take a long time to sort themselves out, but nothing can happen unless the club is sold. Some of the players don’t want to play in that division, but they’re being paid £50,000 a week and you can’t sustain that.

“It is a horrendous situation and the longer it goes on the worse it will get for Newcastle.

“If things don’t change in the next three weeks they could have a very bad season.”

It seems inconceivable Lee would speak out without first having spoken to his former team-mate, and several Newcastle players look set to leave if Shearer is not re-appointed, including Steven Taylor, Habib Beye, Damien Duff and Sebastien Bassong.

Meanwhile, the Football Association are to investigate the trouble which flared during and after Tuesday night’s friendly between Huddersfield and Newcastle.

Referee Jon Moss has included details of the bust-ups in his report, and disciplinary chiefs are now looking into the matter.